dramatic irony

[druh-mat-ik ahy-ruh-nee, ahy-er-nee]

noun

1. irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play.

dramatic irony

noun

1. theatre the irony occurring when the implications of a situation, speech, etc, are understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play

Word History and Origins

Origin of dramatic irony¹

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

And there is a special kind of irony called “dramatic irony,” which is when the audience of a play knows more than the characters onstage do.

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The guest spot gives Colbert an intriguing new chapter: as he transitions away from nightly hosting, he steps into fiction, satire and dramatic irony all at once.

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Still, there’s a bittersweet dramatic irony at play because the reader can recognize that Camille is, at least sometimes, yet another of Sailor’s tools.

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In a piece of tragically dramatic irony, after a lifetime of imposing his literary opinions on the world, Gilman was rendered unable to speak in his final years.

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In “Leopoldstadt,” Stoppard takes dramatic irony — the audience’s grasp of what the characters cannot see — to such an extreme that it becomes the subject itself.

Read more on New York Times